License to drive: young drivers and nighttime curfews in Australia

Abstract

Young drivers are over represented in nighttime crash statistics. In recent months in Australia, there has been an intense public debate about the necessity for action, and in particular, the desirability of the introduction of nighttime curfews. Existing evidence has linked the introduction of curfews with reductions in crash rates in a number of jurisdictions around the world. In North Carolina for example, the introduction of a nighttime curfew has been linked with a 43 per cent reduction in nighttime crash rates (Foss, Feagnes and Rodgman, 2001). There is strong opposition to curfews from some in community, particularly young people. Many people perceive curfews to be an infringement on their right to travel, and fear that curfews will severely hamper their ability to work, study and socialise. Research in this paper questions whether curfews are necessarily linked with relatively low nighttime crash rates. Multivariate linear regressions were used to examine the involvement of 16 to 19 year old drivers in fatal crashes between the hours of 10:00pm and 6:00am. The analyses examined crash rates in 40 US states over a three year period, 1999 to 2001. The results of the regressions showed that, controlling for relevant variables including licensure rates and reference crash rates, the presence of a nighttime curfew in a state is associated with lower nighttime crash rates, though this association is not statistically significant. This result applied to all young drivers, as well as young male drivers and young female drivers.